Ian Hislop

Is it me... or is satire dead?

My next Edinburgh show is going to have elements of satire. Why you ask?! Because I fear it may be dying out and people no longer know what it is and therefore do not appreciate its importance. There. I said it. I went there! Allow me to elaborate...

Private Eye: the Donald Trump cover you'll never see

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the editor of 30 years reveals what goes into a good front page.

Ian Hislop: saying 'allegedly' doesn't stop being sued

"I should point out that allegedly is no defence at all in libel. I perpetrated this myth for years hoping some judge would believe me."

Arriving for a 52nd series, HIGNFY has rarely been more welcome. Over the next 11 weeks, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton will, as ever, captain the teams skewering the increasing ludicrousness of world affairs. They'll be running over the US presidential election, too, which is likely to provide ample quarry for some terrifying hilarity. Nick Clegg has a go in the host's chair, while Kevin Bridges is one of the week's guest panellists.

Premiere of Ian Hislop play in new Watermill season

The Wipers Times will premiere in September as part of The Watermill's new season.

Ian Hislop: making IDS cry & why we should pay more tax

"If it had been Blair or someone, you would have thought: 'He's been rehearsing this for the last month...' But I just thought: This is very odd."

Ruth Davidson MSP 'nervous' of HIGNFY appearance

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has admitted she is 'terrified' at the prospect of appearing on the long-running show alongside team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop, guest host Michael Sheen - who once portrayed ex-Labour prime minister Tony Blair - and comedian Jon Richardson.

Have I Got News For You: the best presenters and guests

Have I Got News For You has just turned 25. Captains Ian Hislop and Paul Merton will return to our screens this Friday for the 50th series premiere, presented by none other than Jeremy Clarkson. Over the years a succession of guests and - following Angus Deayton's controversial sacking in 2002 - presenters have graced the show. We round up the best.

While BBC1 aired Lenny Henry's Danny And The Human Zoo, it can only be coincidence that simultaneously on BBC2 Harry Enfield was himself blacking up as a black-and-white minstrel and reaching for his best Brummie accent briefly to play Henry himself in An Evening with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.

This was a long-overdue satire on the celebrity audience, planted-question-filled "Evening With" format, even if it was also a vehicle for a 25-year retrospective, hosted by the men themselves.

Dressing up as Melvyn Bragg in order to offer intellectual justification for some of your more questionable comedic decisions, not least blacking up to play Nelson Mandela, doesn't actually make them any more intellectually justified, especially when, on the other channel, Lenny Henry's childhood is being dramatised as an exercise in positive discrimination. But the impressions were, of course, hilarious. Ian Hislop, if he saw it, might never have the courage to sneer again.